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effeots of disabilities such as diabetes, phenylketonuria and hæmolytic
disease of the newborn to be assessed and has pointed the
way to their control if not elimination. Surgery has also played its
part in overcoming a number of abnormalities present at birth
thus assisting many infants with congenital defects to attain a
maturity and expectation of life once thought impossible.
However gratifying this picture may appear there is certainly
no room for complacency for infant mortality in England and
Wales is still continuing at a higher rate than in many foreign and
Commonwealth countries.
Infants who die before reaching the age of one month form
the crux of the problem in that, although there has been a real
reduotion in the total number of infant deaths, the neo-natal
deaths have not decreased pro rata. This is amply demonstrated
by the Borough statistics for if the deaths of babies under four
weeks are presented as a percentage of all infant deaths, then over
the last 10 years this figure has increased.
Nevertheless it must be conceded that further reductions in
infant mortality, though possible, are extremely difficult to effect
but with the present increased attention devoted to heredity and
the emphasis laid on the study of genetics a measure of control
and subsequent correction of congenital malformations is to be
expected. Such research work is highly specialised and is perhaps
to be regarded as long term but the immediate problem is to make
every possible endeavour to ascertain by post mortem examination
the cause of infant deaths and stillbirths. Efforts on these lines
are supported by the Population (Statistics) Act, 1960, by which
certain information regarding stillbirths, originally provided on a
temporary basis under a 1938 enactment, has now been made
compulsory and permanent under the new Act.
The Infantile Mortality Rate for Greenwich, measured by the
deaths of children under one year of age to the number of live
births registered was 17.54 per thousand live births as compared
with 18.07 for last year and 19.48, the average for the previous
ten years. For the County of London the rate was 21.6, in comparison
with 21.9, the figure returned for England and Wales.
The present Borough figure of 17.54 shows a decrease of
0.53 from that of the previous year and is 1.94 lower than the
average for the last 10 years.
A table showing the causes of and ages at death is included
in the Appendix to the Report.